The scene was set at the Kennedy Center, with Pete Hegseth and his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, all dressed up for a premiere, but something was off.
Netizens spotted something wrong in a red carpet photo of Donald Trump’s aide and “Department of War” boss. At a glance, it looked like Pete and Jennifer were dressed to the nines, but on closer inspection his outfit wasn’t quite so smart.
In an image, shared to Instagram by Radar Online, Pete Hegseth, 45, is posing and smiling in a tailored blue suit and blue tie, with Jennifer standing beside him looking beautiful and sparkly in a long evening dress. While at quick glance, Pete looked impressive, a closer inspection had viewers believing he has increased in girth.
The top button of Hegseth’s jacket looks like it is under some stress, which caught many netizens’ eyes, and once they saw this, they couldn’t help to notice the bad fit of his jacket, especially at such a high-profile event.
Meanwhile, back in December, the Secretary of War laid out his “basic ingredients on recruiting” young people in the military, saying, “Too many of our young people are too fat or too dumb, not dumb, that’s wrong. You know, we’re just not educating them properly or they’ve got criminal records, or ADHD, or all these other things.”
View this post on Instagram
Seeing the photo and the strain on that top button, some viewers remembered his words and were quick to comment. One directly pointed to that statement, saying, “Hey Pete, no fatties, remember?”
Another recalled his recent statement, writing, “Pete’s popping out of his suit. Little fat for his army.”
However, on closer inspection, his jacket is being stretched as Hegseth puts his arm around his wife. and those that noticed were kinder, with one commenting, “Ok it’s a tailored suit his arm is around his wife this is normal.”
One Instagram stood up for Pete, writing, “He’s so damn good looking they had to find something lol.” Another has seen him face to face and wrote, “He is a fit dude I’ve met him he is not fat at all.”
Yet another Instagram user wrote, “He looks just fine to me.” However, another had clearly seen Hegseth in that suit before, writing, “Actually looks like he only has the one blue suit and it’s bloody awful.”
“Too fat or too stupid,” — Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth spoke about difficulties recruiting Americans into the military.
“Too many of our young people are too fat or too stupid… Not stupid — that’s the wrong word. We’re just not educating them well enough, or they have ADHD or… pic.twitter.com/6NTOfzRTQR
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) December 18, 2025
Another viewer clearly had more on their mind that the current photo, writing, “The fit of his suit is the LAST of his problems!”
Meanwhile, the story of the suit didn’t come from nowhere. In recent months, Hegseth has been pushing a hardline image of those in the military, especial with regard their physical fitness and physique.
Last year, he and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, teamed up for the “Pete & Bobby Challenge.” In that challenge, Peter and Bobby completed 100 push-ups and 50 pull-ups in just over five minutes, along with several members of the armed services.
As part of the Make America Healthy Again initiative in August, Pete stated, “We’re going to be fit, not fat.” He added that the goal is for recruits to be prepared and challenged. As an example, some of the service members had completed that same routine is just under three minutes.
During September, 2025, Hegseth stood in front of top defense officials at the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Virginia. He laid out a clear message to all new recruits, saying that fitness standards across each branch of the military were about to get a serious upgrade. Hegseth is pushing for physical testing twice a year, while cracking down on height and weight requirements.
“If the secretary of war can get up and handle intense PT on the regular, then everybody in our joint force can do the same,” he said at the meeting.
However, his critics wonder if Hegseth is serious about getting fit, not fat, as those who saw the image believed he had put on a pound or two before attending the premiere of the controversial movie, Melania, at the Kennedy Center. Still, many others saw the same image in a different light, while believing that Pete and Jennifer were smartly dressed for the event.
